Editor's Note

Two weeks before this Quarterly’s deadline, I was out of town for vacation and then sent my son to college. I had no opportunity to encourage brothers and sisters to submit for the Quarterly. I thank God that we still have different authors writing on different contents. Kong wrote from dinosaur fossils to God's creation to space-time; Michael wrote on FAQs on Psalm 23 verse 1; Philip wrote his thoughts after listening to Moody Radio on God uses broken people; Chan shared on his son Jerry ‘s experience with God’s best way and preparation; Ginny wrote A Mother’s Heart after sending her son to college; Laurie wrote about her East coast trip; Frail Soul continued Heaven and Hell Divorce Case sixth episode.​In the last few weeks, ISIS and the Ferguson case frequently made headline news, followed by two Ebola virus infected American missionaries in Atlanta receiving the "experimental" treatment. Patient Nancy Writebols’ husband of 40 years, David and another patient Dr. Kent Brantly shared their feelings after knowing they were infected by this virus. Invariably both were telling their faith and trust in God. Writebols said that he and his wife would not stop their ministry; he believes they can serve wherever God sends them to. Brantly said his goal is still to follow God. When I saw their interviews by the reporters, I was touched by their complete peace. God’s faithfulness is more real and true when we face trials. Through His people God demonstrates His faithfulness and promises to the world. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 14: 27,16: 33)

Heaven Hell divorce case (6)

Author: Frail Soul

"Do not resist! You cannot escape!" a shrill voice said, "Begin!"

What followed was the sound of hundreds of screams; so loud that it could have shaken the earth.Kuo, with his face dripping with sweat, could not help but shudder. Tianchang cried out "Jesus, save me!" and then collapsed to the ground.

Kuo thought to speak with the man and suddenly the screaming ceased. What remained was the sound of footsteps coming from outside rushing towards them. The man pressed his hand on Kuo's mouth and whispered, "Take care, good-bye." He then blew out the last bit of candlelight and ran to the direction of the footsteps outside.

At that moment, Kuo's heart was pierced and began to weep.

He tried to shout out but for some reason the sound of the screaming from outside (they had stopped before but now had started again) reverberated inside the cave and drowned him out.

Some time later the commotion began to quiet down. From far away the shrill voice ordered, "Seal the city of refuge!"

The sounds of many bulldozers starting filled the air and Kuo could not help but think to himself, "No more daylight."

Tianchung woke up and could not see his fingers in front of him. He reached out and felt Kuobeside him.

He sensed from Kuo's tone of voice that something was wrong. He asked Kuo, "Are you alright? Where is the man? Why can't I hear him?"

"No! We still have this book the man left us!" Tianchang reached out for the book and said to himself, "Wordless Book, tell us how to go on."

Kuo asked, "The cave is sealed, will we ever see daylight again?"

Words began to emerge in the darkness.

"Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, 'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.' For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10)

Tianchang looked at Kuo, "The book isn't answering our question."

"The book is answering our earlier question about being righteous." Kuo replied.

"I see." Tianching said, "So now I am a righteous man after I cried out to Jesus to save me at my most helpless moment."

Kuo said, "I think we are righteous men because we believe. Before he left, the man said take care and goodbye. He seemed to know that we would meet again someday."

Both of them looked back to the book and more words emerged. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)

Kuo and Tianchung both exclaimed, "Do not fear the messenger from hell!"

Kuo continued, "We still have hope! Although the messenger from hell may try to catch and devour everyone, we have chosen heaven and do not need to be afraid."

Tianchang said, "Yes, look! There are more words!"

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." (Matt. 10:29-33).

"Before I made up my mind to believe Jesus, I used to think the path of Jesus is so narrow. Only way. Only. But I have to admit, I have seen some of Jesus' believers and they are not afraid. Their strength comes from the word of this book! I am not afraid anymore whether or not we see daylight again."

Kuo glanced around the cave and said, "When one's life is under duress, one tends to think more deeply. I had wondered what was behind the whole universe. I thought that there should be a creator. Though I did not understand back then, my heart always yearned to find something deeper. Only now I know I was looking for the truth and thankfully, I found Him!"

Tianchang said, "This city of refuge may have another way out. Let's go look."

"Yes brother." Kuo said as they began walking.

Words from the book appeared again, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." (Psalm 119: 105)

To be continued...

​“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Psalm 23:1, My Thoughts and Q&A

Author: Michael 8/17/2014, from China(Note: These are not standard answers, but for reference only)

Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want.1. Q: A Psalm of David was mentioned here, so what?A: This shows the reader that they should refer to David’s life. This verse mentions a shepherd for example. We should remember that David was once a shepherd and understood a shepherd’s mind and abilities. He also knew the character of sheep, where the water and pastures, and where the snakes and scorpions were. He protected the sheep from lions and bears as well as killed enemies with a shepherd’s tools. As long as the sheep follow the shepherd, they would be safe.2. Q: The king of a people compared himself to a sheep; was that being too humble?A: No, even the greatest man when compared to the Creator, is far smaller than an ant compared to a man.3. Q: Why did he say, “shall not be in want” instead of “shall become rich?”A: The Lord has promised that a son of David will become rich, but the Lord did not promise David any riches for himself. This is the shepherd's sovereignty. But for all the sheep the shepherd promises that they will lack nothing.4. Q: Why only my and I? Why not mention other sheep in the whole psalm? Is he not being too self-centered?A: The good shepherd has a personal relationship with each sheep. I do not lack; I do not and I should not compare with other sheep about who gets more grass. As soon as I notice someone else's wage is 30% higher than mine, I will feel the want and I will ignore the blessings I have.5. Q: Why "is my" in present tense, and "shall not be in want" in future tense?A: The present tense shows that my relationship with the Lord is always there. The future tense is used particularly for the weakness of human nature: even if we have experienced the Lord's provision, we will still feel insecure about the future. Look at the people of Israel when they wandered in the wilderness. Many times they had the Lord's help, provision, and salvation, and yet how many times did they worry and grumble about where they would get their food and drink and about the enemies they face? When I wrote my own dissertation, I asked the Lord for ideas and He helped me dozens of times. When I called upon the Lord dozens of times for the dissertation to be accepted and the Lord helped me. Why am I still worrying about the papers currently being reviewed? The future tense was used very nicely: we shall not be in want in the future, because the Lord has a relation with us that is in the present tense but also that is unchanging beyond time. How He has been reliable in the past means He is worthy of our trust in the future.6. Q: The verse refers to the Lord's holy name. What is the significance?A: The Lord's holy name comes from Exodus Chapter 3. It indicates, "I AM". (Editor’s Note) He is the cause of all existence: shepherds, pastures, flocks, poets, text and readers. All these things exist because of Him. To lack, means non-existence. The Lord is there. With the Lord, we will not be lacking.Editor’s note: The Lord’s name YHWH (variously rendered Yahweh or Jehovah) the eternal I AM may indicate God’s eternal existence or, as the author understands it, the Existence that caused the existence of all things that exists.​7. Q: Why compare ourselves to sheep? Aren’t sheep killed and eaten by their owner?​A: This is a question a lot of believers have but are afraid to think about. A Chinese student had asked me this and I have also thought about this in the past. I now answer this threefold: certainly, maybe not, certainly not. Certainly: all mortals must die in different ways, and the Lord is in charge of the time, place and manner of death. Maybe not: as the shepherd's purpose may be to shear the wool rather than to eat the meat, the Lord might use our life to serve rather than gain from our death. Certainly not: as the Lord is in charge of life. As human life is granted by the Lord and not self-made, of course, the Lord has the authority to receive it. In the Bible sheep are often used for sacrifice, eaten or burned. This also reminds us that the shepherd has the right to govern the fate of the sheep. However, the Bible reveals that death is a process rather than the end. In the Lord there is eternal life. In this sense, sheep are definitely not killed and eaten. Although I am only discussing Psalm 23:1, if you wish to dig a little deeper, please note the last verse of the Psalm and you will appreciate this: what is the last word?

"Sue"

Author: Kong

A stack of wooden pallets was topped with fossils of animals; amidst all this stood a sister we know. Dinosaur bone fossil samples, animal bones, fossils, birds, fish, shellfish and other samples were all in her sight. That day the museum displayed a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil, T-Rex for short. This 66 million year old is named Sue. Found in America, she was 40 feet long from head to tail, 13 feet height from the feet to the waist, weighed 5-8 tons (10,000-16000 pounds). T-Rex species are comparatively younger than other dinosaur species; they became extinct around the time of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg) at the end of the Cretaceous period about 66 million years ago when 75% or more of animals, plants and even dinosaurs became extinct. (See Wikipedia)

Dinosaurs are popular themes in museums, books, and movies. The 1993 movie Jurassic Park showed dinosaurs alive in front of the audience. Animals from the Jurassic period lived 150 to 200 million years ago. "Dinosaur In the Wild” is a recently launched BBC television special, with great educational value.

Genesis in the Bible records human history of about ten thousand years. Dinosaurs are actually a very interesting mystery, gigantic, living from 150 – 66 million years ago. With advances in optics, electronics and technology, the study of dinosaur bones are part of Paleontology. One of the ways to date the deaths of ancient animals is amino acid dating. Dinosaur fossils have been found in many locations, including Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the United States. In the bottom of a lake in northern Europe, they have found sedimentary rock evidence of aquatic dinosaurs from the Middle East possibly looking for food.The scientific community thinks the universe is more than ten billion years old, the Earth is over 4 billion years old and the dinosaurs lived 100 million years ago. How do we explain all these? We know that God created the heavens and the earth, time and space, things that we cannot see and cannot measure. God’s supernatural acts are recorded in the Bible, both in Old and New Testaments. But how can we explain that humans that have been around for ten thousand years were able to coexist with animals that lived millions of years ago.Physicist, mathematician, and philosopher published articles about space-time creation. Two that are relatively easy to understand are “The Creation of Time" on Issues 5,6 of Life and Faith, and “The Time and Space: the Perfect Creation", on Issue 12. The author uses the pseudonym "Dao Zhu”, a retired physics professor. (Please refer to the Life and Faith publications) One section of the article says:"Looking back on creation: 6 days was the time God performed miracles of creation. Further, it would not be difficult to find, as long as we accept the 6-day creation and understand the science of measuring time then an inevitable logical conclusion is the double meaning of time in the creation of time. When God created the world in 6 days, He created from nothing all the changes in the world, which included the creation of billions of years of the world. The purported scientific measuring of time precisely must recognize this change, so the world and its time were created at the same time. "The last paragraph of the article says:"So God created space, and there is a profound revelation. In the face of space creation the belief in God and the boundary of science are subjected to examination. God created in 6 days not only the billion years of the universe, but also through the general relativity (or light years) constraints, at the same time created a space of more than billions of light-years in size, resulting in the modern time-space concept with the two being interchangeable. The whole creation is harmonious. Regardless of how science changes, the Bible speaks clearly: God’s tremendous power in the creation of the universe and the Earth was not only manifested in the creation of the huge amount of matter and the laws in the universe that erupted, but is also hidden beyond known matter, in the depths of the invisible ‘nothingness’."Dao Zhu’s explanation makes sense. In those millions of years God created dinosaurs and other ancient animals and plants. In addition, after the K-Pg event God used special preservation methods, with avalanches rapidly "froze", saved, fossilized, and buried underground much of the organic life. This created a seabed rich in minerals, fuels, and various resources. Everything is a gift of God to us, the true manifestation of the unconditional love of God. God created millions of years of time and space and at the same time the 6 days of our present time of night and day and brought them together. God preserved dinosaur bones, so we can be sincerely convinced. His creation, His time and space, how fearfully and wonderfully made! Rich treasures deep in the seabed and underground, for us to excavate and use! What do people have to do? Praise Him, glorify Him, fear Him, love Him, and proclaim Him.​A picture of the emotion of the Apostle Paul emerged in my mind which he wrote in Romans chapter 11: he was very happy, very excited and could not help but praise: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the minds of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen “

God’s Way is the Best Way

Author: Chan

God’s Way is the Best Way – “God’s way is the best way, my path He hath planned. I’ll trust in Him always, while holding His hand.”This is a very beautiful hymn. We often sing these lyrics; however we seldom think of its meaning. We indeed need to think and must remember in our mind.God is our refuge; He is the one we can rely on. I think of my son Jerry’s experience upon his completion of college in Arizona. He worked there for three years and wasn’t very successful. Therefore he came back home. He was the “Big Brother” of GCCC among the youth. He was an active guy and did not work hard. He went through a rebellious stage. At that time, those who were younger than him had graduated and got great career one by one. He saw the others’ success and thought of himself staying at home without a job. He went to the Willow Creek church. Then he started to have the idea of serving and going on mission work. In the spring of 1999, my wife and I returned to Taiwan and he went with us because he did not have a job. That was his second time returning back to his birthplace. He was so excited and fell in love with this land. After he returned to the United States, he enrolled in a short-term language training school and got a certificate. The following year, he went back to Taiwan with me and looked for a teaching job. After two months, there was no result and I returned to the US first. Later I found out they were looking for Caucasian teachers. It does not matter how you teach, as long as you look foreign, you get the job with high salary. He bit the bullet and settled in “Giraffe English Tutoring” in the south teaching children. He put up with this for two and a half years, then got an opportunity and returned to Taipei and taught in “Century American English Tutoring”. He began to apply for jobs; and the success was still denied at every turn. Since he did not read and write Chinese, he was not qualified for the jobs. He prayed daily about this and prayed together with mom on Skype. He believed God would open a way, and relied on Him with faith. He had said this line, “If God closes a door, He will open another one.” Those who rely on Him in all things will not fall apart. God’s way is the best way.Just this year, he sent out many resumes. Among all the jobs, there was one that did not require Chinese. It was an English-based international business trade associations organized enterprise training center co-ran by government and private sectors. The Taichung campus needed foreign teachers that did not require Chinese. This was exactly what he was looking and asking for, wasn’t this God’s way!He has worked there over one and a half months and he is still adjusting. Everyday he teaches with a trembling heart and the fear of falling short of God’s glory.​On Sundays he goes to the English church, continues to serve, and to preach the gospel. Pray that God continues to lead his way. He can walk in peace and assurance in His kingdom. Thank to the Lord, Amen.

Travel

Author: Laurie

Recently I went to the East Coast for vacation and the trip was very beneficial. I again saw how much God loves this country. Along the way I saw smooth paved highways lined on both sides with lush green trees, neat and clean. This makes people feel very comfortable and can enjoy the beauty of nature.On our road trip our first stop was a northern city of Virginia, which is a newly developed and well-planned urban city. Everywhere you can see new housing estates, shopping centers, and wide roads. You can say it is a busy town; everyone enjoys living and working there.​The next day we drove more than five hours to New York. Once we arrived there we saw that New York is a very prosperous city; everywhere you can see new commercial buildings. We can see the strength of this city in the rebuilding of their homes. Even after 911, they stood up with God’s help and built the city even more beautiful than before.The fourth day we went to the capital, which is an ancient city. There are many very old buildings; they are very spectacular and impressive. The streets are neatly lined with trees. There are a lot of museums. Due to our schedule, we only visited the Space and Science Center. The next day we went to visit Capitol Hill and saw the magnificent interior and the many presidential portraits. We were able to learn all about American history.During this week’s trip, I felt God leading and overseeing so that we have peaceful footsteps whether we are at home or outside of home. His presence is with us and we give thanks!

God Uses Broken People

Author: Philip Wong

I just heard this morning on Moody Radio an interview with the executive director of Willow Creek's 20th Global Leadership Summit this year. He said, "God only uses broken people." As he puts it, we are all broken. Other than God, no one is perfect. But God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will. We all are imperfect; even those of us that have been redeemed and saved by Jesus are still sinners.We criticize the people that serve because they are not perfect, as if they should be perfect. We excuse ourselves from serving because we are not perfect. "But God only uses broken people."Of course, we all need to grow in Christ, as Paul urged the Ephesians and the other churches "to live a life worthy of the calling you have received" (Eph. 4:1). "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it... "(4:7) And "He... gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the head, that is Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. "(4:11-16)A lot of us want to see the church grow; but the church, the body of Christ will only grow if we do our parts with God's grace, and help each other to grow together. Whether we are leaders or not, we all have gifts from Christ and we have to speak the truth in love and in all things grow up into Him who is the Head.The “calling you have received" (Eph. 4:1) has been described very well in the first three chapters of Ephesians by Paul. He called them "saints... the faithful in Christ Jesus." (1:1) "For He chose us ...to be holy and blameless." (1:4) "…to the praise of his glorious grace."(1:6) "As ... you were dead in your transgressions and sins.... God raised us up with Christ ... we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."(2:1-10) Even though we have been called, chosen and born again by grace, we have to be faithful, pursue holiness and do what God wants us to do so that the Lord’s glorious grace will be praised."And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Eph. 2:22) "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 3:10) We not only glorify God individually, but also are being built together into the temple of God to glorify Him. Jesus called His disciples to follow Him. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me," Are we following Him and learning from Him every day? Are we growing? Are we yoked with Christ? It is not easy to follow the Lord and learn from Him; but it is much easier if we are yoked with Christ, as he said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."(Matt. 11:30) This morning another writer was interviewed also on Moody Radio. He said, as the name of his new book, "Never look back." (He had originally named that book "I repent," but the publisher absolutely would not use that title, because people would not buy the book with that title). We never want to go back to the old way, just because we are used to it. We do not want to be like Lot's wife, who looked back and became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 10:26) Jesus also said," No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."(Luke 9:62)We must always remind and encourage each other to take off the old self and put on the new. Eph. 4:20-24 said, "You...were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus...with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." We are broken and imperfect; but God has saved us and given us new lives and therefore we should renew our lives every day and live out God's image.Last week on Moody Radio I also heard this reminder: The Third of the Ten Commandments says, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." The host asked, "Have we misused the name of God?" A caller said, "If we call ourselves Christians, but our lives bring shame to the name of God, can this be considered as misusing God's name? " Do our lives bring glory or shame to His name?​We are all broken and imperfect, but God uses us to accomplish His good Will: to be the glorious Church of Christ that the world and even the angels and Satan may know God's wisdom and grace. Let us, through the Word of God and the power of the Lord, renew ourselves daily, and help and work with each other, to the glory of His holy name, Amen!

A Mother's Heart

Author: Ginny

'"Baby out, a little boy," the obstetrician said, "Congratulations."'These words from 17 years ago seemed like just from yesterday's scene with other scenes emerging. This little boy has gone away to college.On the way back from West Georgia to Chicago, sad tears drop, and I said to Philip in the car, "Now we can only rely on and trust God to be in charge of our son's path." He was very empathetic in this matter; after all, his two older kids had graduated and are working, so he can understand me and share the sense of loss.The child was 4 months old in my womb, when we experienced a great God-given trial: my ex-husband was having an affair. When he was a little more than a month old, I was separated from my ex-husband. I was really close to the boy. I talked to him when he was only a 6 month old in the supermarket when grocery shopping. I knew this little boy was too young to talk, but I asked him whether he liked the brand of baby food that I was going to buy. He responded with his feet kicking and babbling. Although there were just the two of us and there were challenges, life was still pretty substantial. Thank God, after his first two months adjusting to a schedule, he was very easy. I even took him to prayer meetings, and he was very quiet, because he would sleep at 7PM. When I was not teaching classes in the evening, I had a lot of time to pray. I wrote down prayer requests, and recorded how God answered my prayers and those awaiting His answer - including the issue with my ex-husband.I was thankful that God let me grow through suffering. I always was very self-disciplined. Bible reading and praying were regularly done, and I was proud of a good relationship with God and I thought I loved God. Through the issue of my ex-husband God made me re-evaluate how much I loved Him. When I held my son Gershom in the face raisinghim all by myself, I said to God, "I just want my husband to come back; I do not want anything else." God said, "I substitute myself for what I took away; am I not enough?" That was difficult for me but He comforted me with His Words, "I gave you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction but whether you turn to the left or to the right, I will be with you." In those days before I remarried, brothers and sisters in my old church surrounded us with love. Later I attended the GCCC prayer meetings held in the homes of brothers and sisters and I also deeply felt the love of God's family. Since Gershom was little many brothers and sisters hugged him and a lot of people naturally wanted to play with him, perhaps because he had no father, and they particularly cared for him. In those nearly three years, my relationship with God became very intimate. I was like His bride.When Gershom was almost three years old, I married Philip and turned a new page. I thank God for giving me a good husband who loves the Lord and giving my son a stepfather who treats him like his own son. The evenings at home were filled with chatting, laughter, songs of praise, and family worship. Life was very full. Of course we also had different opinions about how to raise children among other things. There were also times of conflicts and unhappiness. Then my son would ask, "Have you resolved yet?" When he saw that we had reconciled and hugged each other he would run over to hug both of us. He loves to talk when he was growing up. I remember once I took him to attend a funeral. When the coffin was lowered into the ground, he said, "Mom, is he going to heaven? If he did not believe in Jesus, he would go to hell." He spoke very loudly, and people around all looked at us. He then asked, "Is that right?" I forgot how I answered him then, but I deeply realized how parents influence their children. Shortly after my second child was born, we decided to homeschool him and not send him to regular school. During 7 years of homeschooling, which includes two years in China, we always start each morning with the first lesson reading the Bible. I remember reading one morning about Enoch walking with God for 300 years and God took him away, and he did not experience death. During our discussion, we said we wished we could say Ginny or Gershomwalked with God ...Parents do get upset by their children. Even though we have disciplined them, the kids do not seem to learn. We often have to admit our weakness and impotence. With insufficient wisdom to guide them we have to rely on prayer to let God discipline them.In the past, as a mother, I have made mistakes. I have provoked our children to anger, but God's grace is sufficient for us. Saying "sorry" to the children will teach them to learn to admit their mistakes. Sometimes the kids have forgotten the issue. Children's hearts are often bigger than adults'; they are unlike adults who always remember how others have offended them and they often cannot forgive. As mothers, sisters can appreciate the Father's heart and the deep love for their children. We know to say "no" to what will be detrimental to the child. But sometimes we are softhearted, and we cannot insist. Thanks to our Heavenly Father, His "no" is not shaken; let us learn with our children to be obedient.In the past few years, on Mothers’ Days and Fathers’ Days, our son thanked us for bringing him up well. He said and wrote in more detail this year, as he was going to embark on a new step toward independence and he reviewed his parental upbringing over the years. In the past year, he frankly said that he was wandering and struggling in his faith. Although in China, during the Troupe performances he passed out decision cards, he traveled more than one hour to and back from Youth Fellowship by subway, was baptized, and even lead his younger brother to pray for the decision for Christ in the kitchen, he now doubts if that belief is true. We have asked whether he truly believed when he was baptized. He said yes, but now there is doubt. He believes there is a God, but he is not sure whether the one we believe is the true God. When we were in China, there were two daughters of a co-worker who doubted their faith while they were in university. After more than a year they restored their relationship with God. This issue of our son once plagued me. Philip felt that I should learn to let go and let Gershom make his own decision. I understand that. There is a book called "Firsthand", the autobiography of the faith journey of two brothers who are a well-known pastor’s sons. They had struggles with their second hand faith and eventually found their own personal relationship with God. I was not reluctant to let go, but would like to ask God when I should, and God, through my American sisters group, gave me the answer. On Easter Sunday this year, I asked if he wanted to go to church. That day I gave him a choice and he said no, and I let him see that mom would let go: the future is his own relationship with God. He asked me, while many times before, he said that he did not want to go to church and I would insist, why did I let him have a choice this time? I told him that I have entrusted this matter to God, and my faith in God is not based on whether he is going to church, because God's people will return to God's house.In mid-June we, mother and son, drove to Georgia for his orientation. We talked a lot in the car those three days, including some controversial issues and issues related to the legalization of same-sex marriages. On another day in the kitchen as we talked about the archaeological and historical support of the credibility of the Bible, he said, "No matter how much research you do, you cannot fully prove the credibility of the whole Bible; only by faith we believe, because if everything can be proved, there is no need for faith." The few weeks before college, the schedule was very tight: two weeks of his working 9 to 4, followed by a family vacation, then back for two days to shop for some college needs, and then we drove to the college. During travel and at home, he also raised questions of faith. He also said that he had read some philosophers' books. Some ended up committing suicide, and some had depression. He said he was also studying other religions. Philip also discussed the views and beliefs of the Bible with him. I believe he knew that he was going to be away to college for a few years, and he still will be looking for answers. He told us that he will believe, but just not sure which one he will believe. Another night, I was listening to Francis Chan's sermon on the Internet, he said when he walked into the room looking for something, "I know this him." I asked, "How do you know him? " He replied," I know a lot. Don’t tell me how to live my life." Recently he often said the last sentence and we joked about it often.This Tuesday morning, when we had to do the State of Georgia car insurance check, he urged us to leave early, because we would arrive home around midnight. When we had breakfast together, hand in hand we prayed for him, and I started to cry. Philip also was holding back tears. Nehemiah said he would not be emotional, but he would actually miss his brother a lot. The two brothers are very close. Then the two cars traveled in opposite directions. Gershom began to go his own way. Christian parents can pray to God for everything. Although the son is far away from home, I believe God's eyes will never leave him. God must have His plan as he put him in this Bible Belt university town; our son's life's path is in his hands.​"Mom ... Dad ... Nehemiah." he Face Timed us. Nehemiah said his brother bought a lot of snacks. After I hung up, with my hands on the steering wheel, and the car speeding in the dark of night, my heart was filled with gratitude and peace, and I softly said to God, "Thank you."